What a hot ptospect Geraldes is turning out to be! If he keeps up with these performances he'll have to get a spot in the first squad in the near future.
Our B squad has an official start tomorrow, against Feirense. So far, here's what we have (maybe I'm forgetting someone): Still many players up to grab (Mica, King, Ribeiro, Zezinho, Fokobo, Kikas, Chaby, Dramé, Cissé, Betinho and Rubio are probably set to be loaned out, another year on the B squad doesn't make sense for them), and Palhinha has been training with the 1st squad.
We played our 1st match, which ended in a 0-0 draw. The starting XI was: Pedro Silva, Riquicho, Sambinha, Domingos Duarte, King, Zezinho, Geraldes, Gauld, Dramé, Matheus and Rubio. Podence, Betinho and Sakho also played, with Matheus getting sent off with a direct red card on the second half. Overall it was a poor match. Pedro Silva had a couple of great saves, but he was clearly nervous. Gauld and Matheus were probably our best units, trying to push forward. I couldn't figure out why Matheus was sent off.
Who's Pedro Silva? Kinda feel that having players like Zezinho, Drame, Betinho and Rubio playing on the B's is pretty pointless
He was (he's still 18, which means he may still be) our U-19 GK. Our best GK prospect since Patrício imo.
The season ended and Sporting B finished 10th in 24, the second highest B team behind FC Porto B who were chamions. Here are the stats from the B team season, courtesy of Michelangelo from FórumSCP and ZeroZero. A team players U19 team players Players no longer with contract Games played: 43 - Domingos Duarte 38 - Ryan Gauld 38 - Mama Baldé 38 - Francisco Geraldes 38 - Daniel Podence 33 - Cristian Ponde 30 - Pedro Silva 29 - Zezinho 28 - Rúben Ribeiro 26 - Fabrice Fokobo 24 - Hadi Sacko 23 - Rafael Barbosa 21 - Sambinha 17 - Kikas 17 - Betinho 16 - Ivanildo Fernandes 15 - Filipe Chaby 14 - Vladimir Stojković 14 - Seejou King 14 - Zakaria Labyad 13 - Ousmané Dramé 12 - Matheus Pereira 12 - Diogo Salomão 9 - Fábio Martins 9 - Salim Cissé 8 - Valentín Viola 8 - Tomas Rukas 7 - Mauro Riquicho 7 - Jorge Silva 7 - Bubacar Djaló 5 - Tobias Figueiredo 5 - Mica Pinto 5 - Diego Rubio 4 - Luís Elói 3 - Guilherme Oliveira 2 - Ricardo Esgaio 2 - Paulo Oliveira 2 - Bruno Paulista 2 - Ronaldo Tavares 1 - Naldo 1 - André Martins Goals: 8 - Matheus Pereira (2 PK) 8 - Francisco Geraldes 6 - Daniel Podence 6 - Cristian Ponde 5 - Ryan Gauld 5 - Betinho 3 - Zakaria Labyad (1 PK) 3 - Hadi Sacko 2 - Valentín Viola 2 - Domingos Duarte 2 - Zezinho 2 - Filipe Chaby 2 - Fábio Martins 1 - Sambinha 1 - Rafael Barbosa 1 - Ousmane Dramé 1 - Luís Elói 1 - Rúben Ribeiro 1 - Naldo Assists: 10 - Daniel Podence 10 - Francisco Geraldes 4 - Matheus Pereira 4 - Ryan Gauld 3 - Mama Baldé 2 - Zakaria Labyad 2 - Rúben Ribeiro 2 - Filipe Chaby 2 - Zezinho 1 - Diego Rubio 1 - Rafael Barbosa 1 - Seejou King 1 - Cristian Ponde 1 - Mauro Riquicho 1 - Fabrice Fokobo 1 - Hadi Sacko 1 - Diogo Salomão 1 - Fábio Martins 1 - Betinho
Some highlights of his season, Daniel Podence shared on his Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daniel.podence/videos/10209531972634544/
I don't think i'd ever seen something like what happened earlier on our B squad. Árbitro valida o golo, fiscal de linha também. 5 segundos depois, anulam-no. Isto já não é gozo, isto é... faltam-me as palavras. pic.twitter.com/QYYSvTyoy0— Rodrigo Lux (@captomente) January 7, 2017 We score, the assistant referee keeps his flag down, and our players go on to celebrate. After a few seconds, the referee calls in an offside or a foul, not sure, and Braga scores on the counter.
Another loss. This can leave the team in the penultimate position if the two clubs below win this weekend. Looks like relegation is almost certain.
That move may work or it may not. It will eventually depend on the individual players' emotional response to being dropped one division.
As I predicted, a couple of weeks after winning the League Cup and being a core player for Moreirense, Francisco Geraldes will start for Sporting B vs. Varzim. Andre Geraldes also on the B team and will start. If we didn't sign bad players for the B team with doubtful quality we wouldn't be fighting for relegation.